Peripherally inserted central catheters, often referred to as “PICC lines,” are used to provide a convenient interface with a patient's circulatory system for delivery of medications and other substances into the patient. Such catheters generally include an intraluminal portion, a subcutaneous portion and a portion outside of the skin. Other medical tubes akin to catheters are also known in the prior art, such as vascular access sheaths and cannulas. The retainer of this invention can be fitted to or formed with any of these medical tubes to function according to this invention. The term catheter is thus considered to broadly include any medical tube.
Medical tubes are generally configured as an elongate conduit extending from a discharge end to an access end. The discharge end is implanted inside a body lumen, such as a large patient vein. The access end typically includes an interface thereon which can be coupled to various different fluid delivery devices, such as infusion pumps, or syringe accepting interfaces, most typically those having a “luer lock” type fitting (and less commonly a septum that can be penetrated by a needle to gain access into an interior of the medical tube).
One problem with such medical tubes is that they can be inadvertently removed, such as if forces tugging at a portion of the medical tube outside of the body occur sufficient to dislodge the medical tube. When such an event occurs, the medical tube must be repositioned by medical personnel, and can potentially pose a danger to the patient. Most commonly catheters of this type are held in place merely by taping a portion of the catheter outside of the body against the patient's skin. This arrangement disadvantageously requires that the tape or other bandage be carefully maintained and is not as effective as desired in preventing undesirable removal of the medical tube.
Accordingly, a need exists for a catheter medical tube that is subcutaneous and can hold the medical tube in a manner resisting removal of the medical tube from the patient until such removal is desired.